Granddad

Ok, sorry I haven't posted on here in a while, but I haven't had internet at home for 2 weeks and I've been in America for the past week. As many of you know, my granddad, William Carter, died on January 30th. I found out 5:30 on Friday evening and was on a plane home at 9:00 the next morning. Three of my friends and I stayed up until 3:30 so I could take the bus from Galway to Shannon, then I called my mom and brother (much to their delight) to entertain me until I left at 9:00 (at least I'm six hours ahead of them). I flew into Newark, NJ, had a five hour layover, then flew into Denver where my brother picked me up. My friends here definitely think I live in the middle of nowhere now because I was explaining to them that I could fly into either Denver or Kansas City and still have about a 6 hour drive to Jennings - they couldn't believe there wasn't an airport closer! On the way to Newark, I had a whole row to myself! Now that's the way to fly! Unfortunately, the rest of my flights were full. I got into Shannon at about 7:30 in the morning, took a bus to Galway, and arrived at my house at about 10:30. It was really cool when I came through customs into Ireland, the guy told me "Welcome home!"
I'm going to put the bio in the pamphlet on here:

William Penn Carter was born February 22, 1916, on the family farm three miles south of Jennings, Kansas. His twin brother, Willard, and he were the youngest of four children born to Jesse and Grace (Tice) Carter. William passed away Friday, January 30, 2009, at the Decatur County ospital in Oberlin, Kansas, at the age of 92.
William and his siblings were reared on the family farm and attended school in Jennings. He graduated from Jennings High School in 1934. During World War II, William and Willard joined the United States Army. They went to training in Texas and served with the 359th Infantry, 90th Division.
On June 6, 1943, before he left to go overseas, William was united in marriage to Rachel Carlton in a double ceremony with his brother, Willard, and Rachel's sister, Naomi, at the Methodist Church in Jennings. The two brothers left shortly after that to serve in the European Theater. They were honorably discharged and returned home in December of 1945.
William and Willard then began working together for Home Oil and Gas Company with Jess Tacha. In 1948, they built a duplex in Jennings, and the two families lived side by side from that time on.
Family was important to them. William and Rachel were blessed with two sons, two daughters, 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Besides his family, William's other love was his horses.
He was a member of the Jennings United Methodist Church, American Legion Post #351, Masonic Lodge, Order of Eastern Star and Charter Member of the Jennings Lion Club.
Survivors include his wife Rachel of the home; four children and their spouses, Ann and Richard Graner of Benthany, Missouri, Allan and Sherry Carter of Overland Park, Kenneth and Julie Carter of Jennings, and Jane and Jim Wahlmeier of Concordia; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren; nephews and nieces, other relatives and friends.
William was preceded in death by his parents and three siblings Nettie, Lawrence (Carney) and Willard.

It was hard being this far away while he was sick. He found out last year that he had lymphoma in his knees. They did one round of chemo, which alleviated the pain in his knees, but he never did really recover from that. In a way, I knew I'd be going home for his funeral at some point this semester, but I didn't think it would be this soon. He's also rallied so many times when we thought he wasn't going to make it that part of me really didn't expect this. It is comforting to me to know that he's in a better place and he's no longer in pain, but it's still hard to know he's not going to be there when I get back.